Contains Q&A Section of Common Workplace Questions

Contains Q&A Section of Common Workplace Questions

During the last half of May 2020, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) issued four decisions upholding the legality of employer facially neutral work rules. Two of the decisions applied the Boeing standard to assess the legality of work rules or policies while the other two decisions restored past precedent to find that an employers’ property rights outweighed employees’ right to engage in protected activities under §7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or “Act”). The key highlights of those decisions, including guidance on drafting work rules and policies that are lawful under the Boeing standard, are summarized below.

AGC of America’s Union Contractors Committee will hold its next conference call on June 11, 2020, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time. The call will feature updates from AGC staff and a roundtable discussion of labor matters around the country. Participation is open to all AGC members and chapter staff, regardless of committee membership. (AGC nonmembers may not participate.) To register for the call, click here. Call-in information will be sent to all registrants on the day prior to the call.

North America’s Building Trades Unions (“NABTU”) and CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training (NABTU’s research arm) on April 27 publicly released COVID-19 Standards for U.S. Construction Sites. The document provides recommended practices for construction employers to implement at job sites designed to prevent disease, disability, and death caused by exposure to infectious disease. The practices include staff training, symptom checking, social distancing, personal hygiene, and decontamination measures.

On May 20, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a final rule that allows employers to pay bonuses or other incentive-based pay to salaried, nonexempt employees whose hours vary from week to week. The final rule clarifies that payments in addition to the fixed salary are compatible with the use of the fluctuating workweek method under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC) recently released its latest edition of the Union Labor Costs in Construction. The report (previously called Trends and Outlook) includes general and detailed information about trends in collectively bargained compensation in the industry, including data analyses by region, by time, and by trade. It can be a valuable resource when preparing for collective bargaining negotiations, particularly when used in conjunction with CLRC’s latest Settlements Report.

Contains Q&A Section of Common Workplace Questions

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will delay the anticipated opening of the 2019 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection and the 2020 EEO-3 and EEO-5 data collections because of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency, the agency announced today in a Federal Register notice.

AGC of America has been working tirelessly to provide members with valuable, relevant resources during the coronavirus (COVID-19) national emergency.